UK: Black deaths in custody - no justice
01 July 1996
The outcome of recent inquiries into the deaths of black people in police custody have done nothing to alleviate concerns that they can expect precious little justice from the criminal justice system. The inquest verdict of misadventure on Brian Douglas, who died in police custody last May, came in the same week as decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) not to prosecute the police officers responsible for the deaths of Wayne Douglas and Shiji Lapite (see Statewatch Vol. 5, No. 1; Vol 5, No. 3; Vol. 6, no. 1)
The family of Brian Douglas, who was the first person to die after being beaten with the police's new US-style long-handled baton, condemned an inquest jury's verdict of misadventure as "a gross injustice". They are now considering taking a private prosecution and a judicial review following the majority verdict at Southwark crown court, south London, in August.
The inquest heard evidence from over forty witnesses including three pathologists who stated that Brian died from a fatal blow to the back, right-hand side of his head after being stopped by police. His friend, Stafford Scott, who received a broken arm in the same incident, described how Brian received the fatal blow as he attempted to walk away from baton wielding police. Eyewitness testimony corroborated Stafford's evidence that PC Tuffey had probably struck the lethal blow, although the officer claimed that he intended to hit his upper arm, and the blow slid over his shoulder and hit his neck. Following his arrest Douglas was left in a cell for fifteen hours before being taken to hospital where he slipped into a coma and died five days later.
The outcome of the inquest coincided with the publication of the Police Complaints Authorities (PCA) annual report (1995/96) which noted a lack of training among police officers using the new batons and an absence of "a national coherent strategy" which necessitated a close monitoring of their use.
While the Metropolitan police issued a public apology and praised the dignity of the Douglas family, their attitude was revealed to be little more than cosmetic by a clumsy attempt to covertly film the family and their supporters as they left a police consultative committee meeting in Brixton, south London. The objective of the meeting had been to defuse the tension caused by the controversial inquest verdict. These events led to an angry demonstration by the Douglas family and their supporters in Balham, south London and a left a simmering resentment in the black community at large.
This anger was further fuelled by a statement by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that no police officer will be charged over the death of another black man, Wayne Douglas, who died only a few hundred yards from Brian Douglas, in December 1995. Wayne Douglas was also beaten with the new long handled baton and his death led to violent clashes with the police. The CPS have decided that there is "insufficient evidence" to prosecute.
The CPS reached a similar conclusion in the case of Shiji Lapite who, an inquest ruled, was unlawfully killed during his arrest by two plain-clothes policemen in Stoke Newington, north London in December 1994. Mr Lapite died from asphyxiation after being put in a neck hold when he was arrested for suspected possession of drugs. The inquest jury's finding, in January, prompted the CPS to re-investigate their original decision not to prosecute the officers involved in his death. Their confirmation of their original decision, that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the officers, leaves the policemen suspended from duty until the Police Complaints Authority decide whether to take disciplinary action.
Police Complaints Authority Annual Report 1995/96; South London Press 19.7.96, 9.8.96, 20.8.96; Independent 9.8.96; Guardian 6.8.96, 10.8.96;